BRANDYWINE HUNDRED DEMOCRATS ASTONISH THEMSELVES

There was a ding-dong-the-witch-is-dead
giddiness when the Brandywine Hundred Democrats got
together Thursday evening to begin selecting a candidate
for the upcoming special election.

The late unlamented character passing from their
midst was state Rep. Wayne A. Smith, the Republican
majority leader who is giving up his seat Monday from
the 7th Representative District to run a health care
trade association.

"I did my Irish jig," quipped Bryon H. Short, one of
five Democrats applying to be the candidate.

Smith was a great and terrible political figure to
the Brandywine Hundred Democrats because he won nine
consecutive elections, starting with his first race in
1990, and because he was too conservative for their
taste -- a far cry from the tree-hugging, kumbaya-singing,
arts-loving, party-of-the-people politics on proud
display at the meeting.

The Democrats were happy not only because Smith was
going, but because they no longer feel like political
Munchkins in Brandywine Hundred, once so Republican that
they had about as much chance of winning an election
there as having a house from Kansas land on Smith's
head.

Instead, with the Democratic presence steadily
growing, they believe they have a shot at overcoming
their registration deficit, which has dwindled to 500
more Republicans than Democrats. Never mind that the
Republicans have a better record in special elections
than they do.

The proof of the Democrats' rising expectations was
in the attendance. About 75 people showed up to scope
out the possibilities for a candidate at the Lancashire
Elementary School and to hear brief pep talks from state
Treasurer Jack A. Markell, Lt. Gov. John C. Carney Jr.
and state Rep. Diana M. McWilliams, who became the
symbol of the Democratic surge when she won one of the
four Brandywine Hundred representative districts in
2004.

"How important this is to me -- I'm the only
Democratic representative in Brandywine Hundred,"
McWilliams said.

The Democrats expect to settle on a candidate Monday
evening at a meeting that will be open to Democrats but
unlike this one, closed to the press. Their choice will
face James T. Bowers, a Verizon sales manager and
Smith's next-door neighbor chosen by the Republicans
late last week, for the special election that has yet to
be scheduled but probably will be held in April.

The Democrats who want to run had five minutes to
make their pitch.

The first up in alphabetical order was David D.
Brady, who was a state representative for 20 years until
his Claymont area district, the one Democratic enclave
in Brandywine Hundred, was combined with Smith's in
redistricting in 2002 and he lost the runoff.

Brady stressed his experience. "The bottom line is
the [7th Representative District] committee choose
someone who is most likely to win the election. It won't
bother me if it's not me," he said.

Carl Colantuono, who lost to Smith in 2006, took a
feel-good approach. "When Wayne gave up his seat, the
world got better for Brandywine Hundred and the whole
state of Delaware," he said. "Good things can happen,
and I want to be part of it."

Only in Delaware can people say with all sincerity --
and be believed -- that they are newcomers because they
have lived here just eight years. The third potential
candidate was Jeffrey K. Politis, whose wife Pam spoke
for him because he was away on business.

Jeffrey and Pam Politis moved here in 1999 when he
was hired by Hercules. Pam Politis said her husband was
"really handsome" and a "great analytic thinker" with
the skills to bring people together and ought to be the
candidate because he would be the one "riding the wave
of enthusiasm with a new face."

Bryon Short, a former aide to U.S. Sen. Thomas R.
Carper when he was a congressman and governor, promised
to be a high-energy campaigner. "This yellow-dog
Democrat's gonna work like a dog," he said.

Short also stopped dancing his jig over Smith's
departure long enough to praise him for his constituent
service and suggest that the casework Short did while
working for Carper qualified him to take over the seat.

Stephen P. Tanzer, who lost to Smith in 2004, took
what was perhaps the most unusual approach. "If you get
the impression that I'm the biggest pain in the butt up
here, you're probably right," he said.

It should come as no surprise that the Republicans
are not-so-secretly rooting for Tanzer to be the
Democrats' candidate.

The biggest applause of the evening did not belong to
any of the five contenders. It went to Sonia Sloan, who
has spent close to 50 years in politics, back to the
days when being a Democrat in Brandywine Hundred was
about a step away from being a hermit, it was so lonely.

"I can't believe I'm sitting here, and there are five
people who want to run," Sloan said.